launched on March 17, 1958, Vanguard 1 was the fourth artificial satellite launched, and is the oldest still orbiting Earth, though there is no longer any communication with it. As of August 2007, it remains the oldest piece of space junk still in orbit.

Dollars tough to sell

Video

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The U.S. dollar's value is dropping so fast against the euro that small currency outlets in Amsterdam are turning away tourists seeking to sell their dollars for local money while on vacation in the Netherlands.

"Our dollar is worth maybe zero over here," said Mary Kelly, an American tourist from Indianapolis, Indiana, in front of the Anne Frank house. "It's hard to find a place to exchange. We have to go downtown, to the central station or post office."

That's because the smaller currency exchanges -- despite buy/sell spreads that make it easier for them to make money by exchanging small amounts of currency -- don't want to be caught holding dollars that could be worth less by the time they can sell them.

The dollar hovered near record lows on Monday, with one euro worth around $1.58 versus $1.47 a month ago.

The camera you own has one main lens and produces a flat, two-dimensional photograph, whether you hold it in your hand or view it on your computer screen. On the other hand, a camera with two lenses (or two cameras placed apart from each other) can take more interesting 3-D photos.

But what if your digital camera saw the world through thousands of tiny lenses, each a miniature camera unto itself" You’d get a 2-D photo, but you’d also get something potentially more valuable: an electronic “depth map” containing the distance from the camera to every object in the picture, a kind of super 3-D.

Stanford electronics researchers, lead by electrical engineering Professor Abbas El Gamal, are developing such a camera, built around their “multi-aperture image sensor.” They’ve shrunk the pixels on the sensor to 0.7 microns, several times smaller than pixels in standard digital cameras. They’ve grouped the pixels in arrays of 256 pixels each, and they’re preparing to place a tiny lens atop each array.

“It’s like having a lot of cameras on a single chip,” said Keith Fife, a graduate student working with El Gamal and another electrical engineering professor, H.-S. Philip Wong. In fact, if their prototype 3-megapixel chip had all its micro lenses in place, they would add up to 12,616 “cameras.”

Point such a camera at someone’s face, and it would, in addition to taking a photo, precisely record the distances to the subject’s eyes, nose, ears, chin, etc. One obvious potential use of the technology: facial recognition for security purposes.

But there are a number of other possibilities for a depth-information camera: biological imaging, 3-D printing, creation of 3-D objects or people to inhabit virtual worlds, or 3-D modeling of buildings.

The technology is expected to produce a photo in which almost everything, near or far, is in focus. But it would be possible to selectively defocus parts of the photo after the fact, using editing software on a computer

Knowing the exact distance to an object might give robots better spatial vision than humans and allow them to perform delicate tasks now beyond their abilities. “People are coming up with many things they might do with this,” Fife said. The three researchers published a paper on their work in the February edition of the IEEE ISSCC Digest of Technical Papers.

Their multi-aperture camera would look and feel like an ordinary camera, or even a smaller cell phone camera. The cell phone aspect is important, Fife said, given that “the majority of the cameras in the world are now on phones.”

Here’s how it works:

The main lens (also known as the objective lens) of an ordinary digital camera focuses its image directly on the camera’s image sensor, which records the photo. The objective lens of the multi-aperture camera, on the other hand, focuses its image about 40 microns (a micron is a millionth of a meter) above the image sensor arrays. As a result, any point in the photo is captured by at least four of the chip’s mini-cameras, producing overlapping views, each from a slightly different perspective, just as the left eye of a human sees things differently than the right eye.

The outcome is a detailed depth map, invisible in the photograph itself but electronically stored along with it. It’s a virtual model of the scene, ready for manipulation by computation. “You can choose to do things with that image that you weren’t able to do with the regular 2-D image,” Fife said. “You can say, ‘I want to see only the objects at this distance,’ and suddenly they’ll appear for you. And you can wipe away everything else.”

Or the sensor could be deployed naked, with no objective lens at all. By placing the sensor very close to an object, each micro lens would take its own photo without the need for an objective lens. It has been suggested that a very small probe could be placed against the brain of a laboratory mouse, for example, to detect the location of neural activity.

Other researchers are headed toward similar depth-map goals from different approaches. Some use intelligent software to inspect ordinary 2-D photos for the edges, shadows or focus differences that might infer the distances of objects. Others have tried cameras with multiple lenses, or prisms mounted in front of a single camera lens. One approach employs lasers; another attempts to stitch together photos taken from different angles, while yet another involves video shot from a moving camera.

But El Gamal, Fife and Wong believe their multi-aperture sensor has some key advantages. It’s small and doesn’t require lasers, bulky camera gear, multiple photos or complex calibration. And it has excellent color quality. Each of the 256 pixels in a specific array detects the same color. In an ordinary digital camera, red pixels may be arranged next to green pixels, leading to undesirable “crosstalk” between the pixels that degrade color.

The sensor also can take advantage of smaller pixels in a way that an ordinary digital camera cannot, El Gamal said, because camera lenses are nearing the optical limit of the smallest spot they can resolve. Using a pixel smaller than that spot will not produce a better photo. But with the multi-aperture sensor, smaller pixels produce even more depth information, he said.

The technology also may aid the quest for the huge photos possible with a gigapixel camera—that’s 140 times as many pixels as today’s typical 7-megapixel cameras. The first benefit of the Stanford technology is straightforward: Smaller pixels mean more pixels can be crowded onto the chip.

The second benefit involves chip architecture. With a billion pixels on one chip, some of them are sure to go bad, leaving dead spots, El Gamal said. But the overlapping views provided by the multi-aperture sensor provide backups when pixels fail.

The researchers are now working out the manufacturing details of fabricating the micro-optics onto a camera chip.

The finished product may cost less than existing digital cameras, the researchers say, because the quality of a camera’s main lens will no longer be of paramount importance. “We believe that you can reduce the complexity of the main lens by shifting the complexity to the semiconductor,” Fife said.

Mick Jagger, Rupert Murdoch and Michael Douglas all have the right idea, evolutionarily speaking. Statistics show that monogamous men have the most children if they marry women younger than themselves. How much younger is the key question.

Last year, a study of Swedish census information suggested a 4 to 6-year age gap is best, but new research has found that in some circumstances a surprisingly large gap – 15 years – is the optimum.

Martin Fieder at the University of Vienna and Susanne Huber of the University of Veterinary Medicine, also in Vienna, Austria, studied the Swedish data and found that a simple equation related the age difference of the parents to the number of offspring. For people who had maintained monogamous relationships throughout adulthood, the most children were found in couples where the man was 4.0 to 5.9 years older than the woman.

The probable reasons behind this state of affairs are not controversial: "Men want women younger than themselves because they are physically attractive," says Fieder, while women tend to prioritise a partner who can provide security and stability, and so tend to opt for older men.

Mum’s the word

However, Fieder and Huber's calculations drew criticism. For example, Erik Lindqvist at the Research Institute of Industrial Economics in Stockholm, Sweden, pointed out that the age of the mother is likely to be more important than any age difference: the older the mother, the lower her chances of having more children.

"We added that factor into the calculation," says statistician Fred Bookstein at the University of Washington, a colleague of Fieder and Huber. "The importance of the age difference didn't change.”

Even if it holds true for Sweden, the 4 to 6-year age gap is unlikely to be optimal in all cultures. Samuli Helle at the University of Turku in Finland read Fieder and Huber's paper and says it stirred memories of an unpublished study he conducted a few years ago.

"In 2001, I studied the demographics of the Sami people of northern Finland," he says. "I had thought I had missed the opportunity to publish, but when I saw the Fieder and Huber paper I thought: why not write a response?"

Helle’s team performed a similar calculation to Fieder and Huber's, using the demographic data from the 17th to 19th centuries that Helle had already collected from northern Finland. For the Sami people, they found that males with 15 years on their partners had the most children.

"I don't know why the optimal age differences were so much bigger among the Sami people, but it might be related to culture," says Helle, noting that the Sami were nomadic reindeer hunters. "Perhaps those huge lifestyle differences are important."

16 jumbo shrimp (TIP: You are better off with bigger shrimp then smaller ones. Bigger shrimp has a stronger flavor and this better compliments this recipe. A smaller shrimp will have a mild flavor and not go with the stuffing. Many times I half the recipe and use 8 jumbo's for two people)

1/2 c. chopped yellow onions (Do not use Vidalia, as they don't have a strong enough flavor.)

1/4 c. very finely chopped celery

1/4 c. sherry

1/2 tsp. Louisiana Hot

1/2 tsp of garlic powder

2 dashes of black peper

1 tsp. Worcestershire

1 tsp. lemon juice

1 tsp. celery salt

Pinch of Thyme

1 lb. crabmeat or crab boiled sheephead fish. (if you dont' know how to do this, just stick with crab meat.)

3 c. fresh bread crumbs

1/4 c. mayonnaise

If you like it spicy, then use 1/4 to 1/3 tsp of red pepper. Otherwise use 1/4 tsp of freshly ground black pepper.

Non-stick sauté pan with coating of olive or canola oil.

To cut shrimp in a butterfly fashion, take a sharp knife and cut the along the back of the shrimp, leaving on the tail and enough meat on the belly to act as a hinge. Be careful not to cut your hand. Remove the shell, and devein the shrimp. Spread out with cut side facing up in baking dish. Sauté onions and celery for a few minutes until they start to lose their raw texture. Then ad sherry, hot sauce, lemon juice, celery salt, thyme, pepper and crabmeat. Cook on low heat for 15 minutes stirring often. The onions should brown. Also, please do not let this stick as it will ruin the flavor. Mix in crumbs and mayonnaise. Using a spoon, drop mixture on top of shrimp. Sprinkle with butter. Add 1/2 cup water to pan. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in a 350 degrees oven or until stuffing is lightly browned. If the mixture does not brown then use the roaster feature on your oven to give brown the stuffing. Be careful not to burn. For a little extra flavor, sprinkle with a touch of parmesan cheese.

Fact: HDR pictures are totally cool. HDR makes colors pop-out, they appear really vivid and shiny. And what kinda art uses lots of vivid and shiny colors? That's right, grafitti! And the combination of these two will blow your mind!

Picking The Champ

First things first: If you miss on the team that goes all the way, it's going to seriously put a damper on your chances of winning the whole thing. And even if you get hammered in the pool, at least you called the big one.

Tiernan says that 15 of the last 17 champions have possessed six key attributes. Those teams:

Win by an average of at least 10 points per game over the course of the season

Only 4 teams meet all those conditions:

North Carolina

Duke

Kansas

Tennessee

General Strategies

Just pick the higher seed. Most of the time you're right. Depending on how your bracket is set up – some reward picking upsets – your mileage could vary. Also, if you really want to win a big pool, like ESPN's, you have to take more risks.

Go with your gut. We call this one, "The Decider". Just stare at each pair of teams until you see the truth revealed about which one will win. It's sort of like those 3D stereograms where you if you look at it the right way, you get the illusion of 3D, except in this case, it's actually seeing the fourth dimension.

Consult a seer. There are several statistical evaluation methods. Tiernan runs statistical regressions looking for team profiles that have done well in the past. Other systems, like Ken Pom's possession-based analysis, and Jeff Sagarin's ratings, have predictive value as well. In particular, they can reveal teams that are underrated relative to their seed, like Wisconsin. To use them, just pick the team with the higher number in the right hand column. Ken Pom calls it the Pythag and Sagarin has the "predictor".

Pick the fiercer mascot. It is clear that the UCLA's back-to-back Final Fours are due to our mascot, the Bruin (a bear). They've only lost to the Florida Gators, and everyone knows that an alligator would totally beat a bear in a steel cage match.

Pick A Good Coach

There are overachievers and there are underachievers in the coaching ranks, and you don't want to pick the wrong kind.

Here are the top coaches in overperforming their seed expectation.

Steve Fisher, San Diego State

John Beilein, Michigan

Rick Pitino, Louisville

Billy Donovan, Florida

Tom Izzo, Michigan State

John Thompson III, Georgetown

Ben Howland, UCLA

Mike Krzyzewski, Duke

We didn't get a full list of the underachievers, but I will say this: watch out for Kansas and North Carolina. Those coaches have been known to win less often than you would expect.

Video

UCLA's Russell Westbrook dunking all over Jamal Boykin. Note the announcer in the YouTube video declaring, "That's called being YouTubed!"

Tips & Tricks

Tip: Teams that come into the tournament winning 8 or more games in a row tend to underachieve. Bad news for: UCLA, North Carolina, Kansas

Tip: The teams that are more frontcourt dominant in terms of scoring overachieve. Good news for: Louisville, Xavier, Stanford

Tip: Over the last 23 years, the Pac 10 has been the worst performing conference. Bad news for: UCLA, Stanford, Washington State, USC, Oregon, Arizona

Benched: A consortium led by Minneapolis-based utility Xcel Energy plans to install 50,000 smart electricity meters in homes and businesses in Boulder, CO, and to upgrade the city’s substations to make its power grid the world's smartest. Xcel bets that improving communication between consumers and power plants will help the city reduce blackouts and use more renewable energy, rather than relying on fossil-fueled plants such as this one. Credit: Xcel Energy

Boulder, CO, should soon boast the world's smartest--and thus most efficient--power grid, thanks to a $100 million project launched last week by Minneapolis-based utility Xcel Energy. The project will equip homes with smart power meters that help people reduce demand when electricity is most expensive. Substations will also use information from the meters to automatically reroute power when problems arise. Among its other benefits, the project should help Boulder residents take better advantage of renewable power sources.

In today's power grids, a steady but essentially blind flow of electricity is all that links power plants, distribution systems, and consumers. Mike Carlson, Xcel's chief information officer, says that Boulder will test how much more reliable, cleaner, and cheaper grid operation can be when each element communicates with the others. If the benefits prove as great as Xcel expects, Carlson says, the Boulder experiment could unleash rapid investment in "smart grids." The equipment is ready, Carlson says. "We're not talking the Jetsons or Star Wars here. If we can get the right standards and the right incentives and the right financial structures, it's viable technology today."

Rob Pratt, who runs the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory's GridWise program, agrees that Xcel's project should--if fully implemented--provide the best test to date of smart-grid benefits because it will make Boulder the "densest concentration" of smart-grid technologies. "You can't have one smart-grid customer in Boulder and two over in Fort Collins and a few dozen in Denver, and have it mean as much as having all those people on one street," says Pratt. "Here we're talking about a whole city, which would be amazing."

Carlson says that Xcel chose Boulder for its relatively isolated electrical distribution system and its population of roughly 120,000 (including students). Xcel plans to install 50,000 new smart meters serving about 100,000 of those residents, a large enough pool that the company can experiment with different approaches. It could, for example, deploy meters from different vendors, which send information in different ways: either wirelessly, or over the power lines themselves. The company could also experiment with sending different signals to the meters to try to influence consumer demand. (See "Gadgets to Spur Energy Conservation.")

One scheme that Xcel plans to test is a way to make better use of renewable energy. On today's grid, intermittent sources of renewable power--such as wind--must be backed up by more conventional fossil-fueled or nuclear power stations. "Xcel's leading the country right now in wind power--we have almost 3,000 megawatts on our system and plan to double that--but we have a consumer base that doesn't modify its habits when that wind isn't blowing," says Carlson.

Instead of trying to store renewable energy for when it's needed--a pricey proposition--Carlson thinks that the smart grid may be able to "store" demand for when the wind happens to blow. Xcel plans to send signals when the wind is up, and some consumers will be able to program their smart meters to, say, activate their dishwashers or heating panels in response. "If the system could signal wind availability--or any renewable energy source, for that matter--would we see an adjustment of consumption? We think yes," says Carlson.

Poetic justice: Former New York governor Eliot Spitzer’s intimate knowledge of the tools used to foil organized crime didn't keep him from running afoul of his own bank's anti-money-laundering software. Credit: U.S. State Department

If there is a lesson from former New York governor Eliot Spitzer's scandal-driven fall (aside from the most obvious one), it is this: banks are paying attention to even the smallest of your transactions.

For this we can thank modern software, and post-9/11 U.S. government pressure to find evidence of money laundering and terrorist financing. Experts say that all major banks, and even most small ones, are running so-called anti-money-laundering software, which combs through as many as 50 million transactions a day looking for anything out of the ordinary.

In Spitzer's case, according to newspaper reports, it was three wire transfers amounting to just $5,000 apiece that set alarm bells ringing. It helped that he was a prominent political figure. But even the most mundane activities of ordinary citizens are given the same initial scrutiny.

"All the big banks have these software systems," says Pete Balint, a cofounder of the Dominion Advisory Group, which helps banks develop strategies for combatting money laundering and fraud. "Depending on their volume, they might have thousands of alerts a month."

Most of the systems follow fairly simple rules, looking for anomalies that trigger heightened scrutiny. Software company Metavante says that its software, for example, contains more than 70 "best-practice" rules, covering a wide variety of transaction types ranging from cash deposits to insurance purchases. The simplest rules might flag large cash transactions, or multiple transactions in a single day.

In Spitzer's case, the three separate $5,000 wire-transfer payments reported by the Wall Street Journal would likely have triggered one of the most obvious of these rules, without any recourse to more advanced capabilities.

Banks are constantly on the lookout for activity that seems to be an effort to break up large, clearly suspicious transactions into smaller ones that might fly under the radar, a practice called structuring. Spitzer's transactions almost certainly fit that profile, says Dave DeMartino, a Metavante vice president. Newspaper reports have identified New York's North Fork Bank, owned by Capitol One, as Spitzer's personal bank. A spokeswoman for the bank declined to identify which, if any, anti-money-laundering software the institution uses.

But banks, and law enforcement, are also looking for things that they can't predict and thus can't write rules for.

The simplest way to identify the unexpected is by contrast to the routine. A person who deposits just two paychecks a month for two years might be flagged if he suddenly deposits six large checks in two weeks, for example.

But software packages also group customers and accounts into related "profiles" or "peer groups," in order to establish more-general behavioral baselines. Some software might group together all personal checking accounts with an average balance of less than $15,000, or merchant accounts with turnover of less than $100,000 per month. Some might go deeper, grouping together all business accounts specifically tied to dry cleaners or consulting firms.

The most sophisticated software packages can sort people or accounts into several categories at once: a single customer might be compared to other schoolteachers; to people who bank mostly at a single regional branch; and to people who have stable, pension-based monthly incomes, for example.

Each category is analyzed to determine patterns of ordinary behavior. Every single transaction by customers in these groups, and even patterns of transactions stretching back as far as a year, are then scrutinized for evidence of deviation from this norm using measures such as the number, size, or frequency of transactions, among others.

Ian M. Sherwin Giclée

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All you art collectors out there. Here is a chance to get a Giclee copy of some of Ian M Sherwin work. Ian is planning on doing a whole series of Marblehead, Massachusetts paintings.His work is amazing.